Wells Fargo: Nearly Twice as Many Fake Accounts Opened Than Originally Thought

Wells Fargo & Co (WFC) disclosed Thursday that it uncovered nearly double the amount of fake accounts opened than it originally thought, with fraudulent accounts nearing 3.5 million instead of the original estimate of 2.1 million.

Thursday's disclosure on a conference call marks the end of the investigation into its fake accounts scandal by a third-party reviewer. That review looked at all 165 million retail accounts opened at the bank from January 2009 to September 2016, increasing the time frame for review from the previous window of May 2011 to mid-2015.

The bank, which said it is now focused on remediation, also found 528,000 customers were unnecessarily enrolled in online bill pay. Wells Fargo is refunding those customers a total of $981,000.

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